Silicon homoepitaxy with ion sputtering. I. Mechanism of growth

An investigation is made of the surface structure of substrates and homoepitaxial silicon films by a high resolution replica method and transmission electron microscopy. Ultra high vacuum conditions are obtained using an oil system with getter. Epitaxy on substrates with carbide particles starts with a formation of islands, after coalescing of which the growth proceeds by a step-motion mechanism. The film growth starts with a reverse step motion when a system of steps with a height close to an atomic layer is formed by thermal etching. Mechanism, anisotropy, and kinetics of the step motion and step interaction with the pinning points are discussed using experimental results obtained under pure conditions.